emirates7 - NASA has announced the discovery of a previously unknown moon orbiting Uranus, bringing the planet’s total number of confirmed satellites to 29. The newly detected body, temporarily designated S/2025 U1, was identified by a research team from the Southwest Research Institute (SwRI) using the James Webb Space Telescope during an observation on 2 February 2025.
The moon is estimated to measure just about 10 kilometers across—too small to have been detected by NASA’s Voyager 2 spacecraft during its 1986 flyby.
Maryame El Moutamid, lead scientist in SwRI’s Solar System Science and Exploration Division, highlighted the importance of the finding, saying: “It’s a small moon but a significant discovery, one that even Voyager 2 missed nearly 40 years ago.”
S/2025 U1 orbits Uranus at a distance of roughly 56,000 kilometers. A permanent name will be assigned to it at a later stage.
The moon is estimated to measure just about 10 kilometers across—too small to have been detected by NASA’s Voyager 2 spacecraft during its 1986 flyby.
Maryame El Moutamid, lead scientist in SwRI’s Solar System Science and Exploration Division, highlighted the importance of the finding, saying: “It’s a small moon but a significant discovery, one that even Voyager 2 missed nearly 40 years ago.”
S/2025 U1 orbits Uranus at a distance of roughly 56,000 kilometers. A permanent name will be assigned to it at a later stage.